Lucas Ryan Versus - Madison Daniel Page 0,16

at my face. Its evil little eyes glowing with rage.

“Ahhh!” I screamed, before whipping the book at the wall. My tattoo lit up in a golden fire as I fell backwards over the desk and chairs behind me. My hands flailed in front of me, hopelessly swinging at the terrible spider-snake. Olivia quickly ran up to me in a panic.

“Lucas…”

“Where is it? Is it on me?”

“What? I don’t see anything,” she said, scared.

“It was on my book…it freaking jumped on me…in my face…”

“Lucas, there’s nothing here. What are you talking about?”

Urgently, I searched all around me, my shirt, my hair, the floor, the wreckage that used to be my school desk. Nothing. No snake. No spider. It was gone, just like my dignity. Finally, I let Olivia help me to my feet. She was obviously worried about me. As I searched the room again, my heart began to settle itself.

“Sorry about that, Olivia,” I said, painted in embarrassment.

“Are you okay?” she asked, with a smile. My mouth returned the gesture.

“I think so.”

The school bell rang signaling the end of the class. Olivia and I gathered our things and headed for the lunch courtyard. Thank goodness, because I needed a break. This day was getting crazier by the minute.

The last time that happened, I ended up saving the world.

LEVEL 07

HEROES - WE COULD BE

“Unbelievable.”

“Yup,” I agreed, with Taylor. He had anxiously skipped his lunchtime football practice to hear all the gory details of my disappearance and impossible journey back to our dimension. Morgan and Roland sat quietly on both sides of him listening intently. They made sure to catch every word. Especially Roland. He was a geek at heart, like me. All this interstellar travel and galactic monsters made him giddy with excitement. I could see it in his eyes he was already working on a new conspiracy theory to explain all of this.

“I still can’t believe all that happened in just a few hours, Lucas. Why do you think it was over a month for us until you showed back up?” Morgan asked. She leaned against Taylor’s thick arm and he eased into her softly.

“Mo, I’m not completely sure.” With a twist of my wrist, I continued. “Ripley said it’s just how it works. Time in that dimension is much different than ours.”

“Ripley? You mean that mystical beast that lives in your tattoo? You’re still calling it Ripley?” Morgan asked, unsure.

“Yes.” I slid my arm into the middle of the circle with my open palm faced upward. Tiny rolls of flashing smoke spun in a miniature tornado just a few inches high. Ripley’s serpent-like form appeared. It cracked a metallic snap along its spine before nodding to my friends and melting back into my skin.

“Whoa,” Taylor smiled. “What can it do, Lucas? What can you do?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’m still learning. But it seems Ripley and I are one.”

With a rustle of his thick blonde mane, Taylor sulked, “I guess you don’t need me as your bodyguard anymore…”

“T, are you kidding? There is only one true superhero in this gang and that’s you. It’s always been you.” I tried to ease his unrest but it didn’t seem to help much. He looked over his shoulder as a distant whistle blew. It was Coach Kitna, and he looked annoyed that Taylor wasn’t leading the football team in midday workouts. Taylor slowly stood up, offering Morgan a quick kiss on her cheek before jogging toward the team. It bummed me out that he may be taking my unique situation as a sign that I didn’t need him or his strength. Taylor was the single reason I made it this far in high school. Bullies are around every corner and boy did they always seek out us nerdy kids.

“Don’t worry, Luc, he’ll be fine. You know how he is, a big softy locked in a warriors body,” Morgan eased, with a gentle smile.

“I guess.”

“He just needs some time to adjust to your secret powers,” she smiled.

“Secret powers?” I gasped, looking down at my arm.

Roland jumped in the conversation, “That’s right!”

I mumbled, “Uh, oh. I feel a new conspiracy theory coming on.” Morgan rolled her eyes at her brother and turned her attention back to Taylor across the campus.

“Well, I do have a theory about our new Biology teacher, Ms. Strickland,” Roland grinned wildly.

Morgan began to chuckle, “And here we go.” Roland huffed and ignored her. With a flip of his hand he opened the top of his backpack and removed his large